By Michael F. Duggan
I was never crazy about Senator Joe Biden. He seemed to embody so much of the mediocrity and cynicism of the Democratic Party of the post-New Deal paradigm. I also do not like his dangerous escalatory policies driving the Russo-Ukrainian War. That said, let’s look at what he and his administration have accomplished:
- American Rescue Plan ($1.9 trillion)
- 200 million vaccinations administered during his first 100 days, twice the number promised
- Infrastructure Bill ($2 trillion)
- The decisive withdrawal from the fruitless twenty-year U.S. War in Afghanistan
- Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (the gun safety bill; the first federal gun legislation passed in 28 years)
- CHIPS and Science Act
- PACT Act (Veterans’ Healthcare)
- The appointment of 75 federal judges to date (more than any president to this point in an administration since JFK)
- The appointment of Ketanji Jackson to the Supreme Court of the United States
- Student Loan Relief
- The killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri
- The Inflation Reduction Act (if it had not been for two obstructive members of the Democratic caucus, the far more robust Build Back Better Bill would have been enacted into law).
- Unemployment is at its lowest rate in 50 years
Work still remains to be done (the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill remains unpassed, illegal immigration remains high, and we must do much, much more to address the crises of the environment). But as far as domestic accomplishments go, this has been a significant first year-and-a-half, especially given how evenly divided the Senate is. It is reminiscent of the days of the great named domestic programs like the the Square Deal, the New Freedom, New Deal, the Fair Deal, the New Frontier, and the Great Society. It is reminiscent of the days when Americans still thought big for the public good. One can only wonder when the Democratic Party and the “liberal” media are going to start trumpeting these accomplishments.